If you want to know where President Bush gets his talking points on Iraq, look no further. Those with the time and inclination would do well to analyze the arguments and provide the refutation.

Kagan describes the future markers which would then indicate that the Iraq war/occupation had been won.

Here is an excerpt from Kagan's article:

An ally in the struggle against militant Islamism. Whatever Saddam Hussein's ties were to al Qaeda before the invasion, the reality today is that an important al Qaeda franchise has established itself in Iraq. It initially had the support of a significant portion of Iraq's Sunni Arab community, but that community--with critical American support--has rejected al Qaeda and united with Iraq's Shia and Kurds to fight it.

As a result, there is no state in the world that is more committed than Iraq to defeating al Qaeda. None has mobilized more troops to fight al Qaeda or suffered more civilian casualties at the hands of al Qaeda--or, for that matter, taken more police and military casualties. Iraq is already America's best ally in the struggle against al Qaeda. Moreover, the recent decision of Iraq's government to go after illegal, Iranian-backed Shia militias and terror groups shows that even a Shia government in Baghdad can be a good partner in the struggle against Shia extremism as well.

One might deduce that Kagan is pleased with Iraq's war on Al Qaeda.

Recall that the neocons pushed the war based on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.

Recall that Al Qaeda was not in Iraq prior to the invasion.

In this context, Kagan is pleased with a conflict that is partly his collaborators own creation. I am always surprised by the neoconservative neglect of this extremely sore point. Had their understanding faced any true criticism and evaluation, then the initial mess would not have been started.

Now they assume the role of cheerleading the way out through a planned set of markers. At this point, why should America place any weight on or give any authority to the neoconservative notions.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama denounced his former pastor in his strongest language to date on Tuesday, saying he was outraged by Rev. Jeremiah Wright's assertions about the U.S. government and race.

"His comments were not only divisive ... but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate," Obama told reporters.

"Whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed as a consequence of this," Obama said.

The media, Republicans-neocons, and Clinton have found Obama's weak point, and they will hammer him on Wright.

Can you recall a time when a political candidate or politician seemed like they were in control, when they are playing defense.

This is the problem. Obama is now on the defense. He is forced to distance himself from Wright, but the problem with politicians is that the media won't let you become unstuck. Just the opposite. The attention and shrillness increases the glare of the camera and the worst instincts of the population.

The deer gets caught in the headlights, and America starts salivating. Nothing would please Obama's detractors more than to see his fall from grace.

They are implementing a program at Bucca where the inmates are being taught a moderate form of Islam. Have re-education programs ever worked anywhere? If yes, then where are the non-violent re-education programs for America's gangs?

Stone said such efforts, aimed mainly at Iraqis who have been held for more than a year, are intended to "bend them back to our will" and are part of waging war in what he called "the battlefield of the mind." Most of the younger detainees are held in a facility that the military calls the "House of Wisdom."

If a detainee is an imperative security risk . . . then I'm going to reduce that risk and I'm going to replace that destructive ideology..."

"We would like our region to enjoy its monetary surplus, prosperity, stability and progress."

"If you mean would we work as an intermediary, yes, we have done a lot of intermediary work and solved many conflicts, and used diplomacy to solve many things silently. We knew that those whom we sought to assist succeeded and appreciated this very well. Let history keep this to our credit when speaking about us."

I am posting this article simply because it suggests a possibility that I completely support.

That would be anyone other than a Republican/neocon as the new president.

Having said that, I would suggest taking the information with a handful of salt. Most polling information has been particularly suspect this political season. Its almost to the point where it is valueless. Nevertheless, its always fun to see the suggestion of the Republican getting beat, even if its put together by people with a serious laughing gas problem.

Hillary Rodham Clinton now leads John McCain by 9 points in a head-to- head presidential matchup...

Helped by independents, young people and seniors, Clinton gained ground this month in a hypothetical match with Sen. McCain, the GOP nominee-in-waiting. She now leads McCain, 50 percent to 41 percent, while Obama remains virtually tied with McCain, 46 percent to 44 percent.

It would be a crime to not see Obama on the voting ballot this November.

"Teens are curious and they want to experiment and if they know what's out there and they have the correct information, they're going to know how to protect themselves and prevent an unwanted pregnancy and an STD..."

...with some 750,000 teenage pregnancies a year, America has one of the highest teen birth rates in the developed world.

"This national programme which has wasted $1.5bn (£750m) of tax money is a failure and our teens are paying the price..."

Most investors believe the Fed will lower rates by another quarter percentage point but will also suggest they are gearing up for a pause.

There will be a Federal Reserve assessment on the economy issued this coming week maybe Tuesday or Wednesday.

In the past few months, these announcements have led to short term lifts in the stock market mostly because Wall Street likes seeing prime interest rates go down, at least right now.

I would suspect that day traders are gearing up for this announcement. If they cut the prime interest rates by another .25% then there will definitely be a market rise on that day.

The big 'but' though comes with any more mention of a pause - slow down in the economy. Personally I don't think the recession is close to being over. Watching the stock market carefully over the last 4 months I've noticed that it is now somewhat stable, but that stable point is low. I haven't seen the kind of drops that occurred back in January.

As the Olympic torch has progressed around the world, people have come forward to protest the most recent harsh crackdown on Tibetans by the Chinese.

Tibet has been occupied by the Chinese since the 1950s. The occupation has led to the decimation of the Tibetan culture, which is heavily based in Buddhist spirituality, and the relegation of the Tibetan people to second class citizens in their own country.

The torch is now passing through South Korea where people are protesting Chinese policy.

In South Korea, the protests are directed at China over a different and uniquely Korean issue -

But in South Korea, China's treatment of North Korean defectors has taken center stage.

Thousands of North Koreans, fleeing lives of hardship in a country that restricts all civil liberties, have escaped across the loosely controlled Chinese border, rather than attempt the heavily fortified frontier with the South. Many live in hiding in China, where if caught, they are deported back home to face imprisonment in life- threatening conditions.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Recent letters from the U.S. Justice Department to Congress state that intelligence agents working on counter-terrorism can legally use interrogation techniques that might otherwise be banned by international law...

A March 5 letter from the Justice Department to Congress makes clear the Bush administration has not set boundaries for which interrogation methods might violate the ban in the Geneva Conventions on "outrages upon personal dignity..."

Sales of large SUVs plummeted 28 percent in the first quarter this year, while subcompact sales rose 32 percent, according to Autodata Corp. Thriftier four-cylinder engines, once despised by Americans for their perceived lack of power, are selling in record numbers.

Used car dealers don't want the big vehicles on their lots anymore because hardly anyone is buying them.

It won't be global warming that changes the way we live. It will be the price tag.

1944 - This is one of 26 Private SNAFU ('Situation Normal, All Fouled Up) cartoons made by the US Army Signal Corps to educate and boost the morale the troops. Originally created by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and Phil Eastman, most of the cartoons were produced by Warner Brothers Animation Studios - employing their animators, voice actors (primarily Mel Blanc) and Carl Stalling's music.

Recall that last week there were 21 shootings in Chicago which took place over a 24 hour period. Over the entire weekend period, there were 36 shootings and 9 people died. The Chicago police will be out in force this weekend to try to prevent a repeat of the violence much of it gang related.

Listening to National Public Radio on Friday, there was a report on how the City of Springfield Mass. was trying to quell gang violence. I believe this will be a poignant topic in the upcoming months. We will hear about this type of report from many cities.

We know what many of the relevant issues to this problem are and we've gone over them. I personally find it discouraging to read that the violence is a result of a 'heat wave'. Sorry, that's not the central point.

Police planned to increase patrols and put SWAT officers and specialized units on the streets over the weekend, a show of force aimed at deterring violence...

A fired-up Daley blasted the gun industry and called on parents and adults to do their part by intervening to help troubled youth and by working to keep others on the right path.

After I was assaulted back in November, I spoke with the mayor of my city.

He told me that most of the illegal guns that are used in street crime come from the South. Also he said that Southern politicians are not interested in placing any limitations or restrictions on the sale of guns. Recall how 'gun rights' is a big deal with their constituencies. From their perspective, if you take guns away, you might be violating the most salient Constitutional right. Don't expect to see much of a change in that area. Do expect to see more related tragic articles like the one out of Chicago.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Biofuel production is critical to meeting current and future fuel demand in spite of its possible role in driving up food prices...

(biofuel makes up) 50 per cent of the extra fuel coming to the market from sources outside Opec...

The FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organization) estimates biofuels account for 10 per cent of the food price spike.

FYI rice is now being rationed in the USA. Still like biofuel...

Sam's Club, the membership warehouse division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., is limiting how much rice customers can buy because of what it calls "recent supply and demand trends," the company said Wednesday. source

Douglas Feith headed the infamous Office of Special Plans which "stovepiped" information on Iraq to the President. The Office did an end run around the legitimate intelligence community and brought forth "intelligence" that made the case for war. The case which most people now understand to be a leaky and rusted cracked pot of nonsense.

This was the plan of the neocons. If the information and intelligence does not fit the ideology, then by all means make it up, use PR firms to sell it, and lie.

Feith is a neocon and he continues to lie. He is a Project for a New American Century signatory. This fact alone would stand the hair of the average American on end if they took the time to research that connection.

In my book, the neocons need to be herded up, and cast off on a deserted isle, far from civilization.

Feith is promoting a new tell all book, pointing fingers wherever he can, to point the blame of the Iraq war/occupation failure away from himself and onto his neocon cohorts. Imagine a pit of venomous rattlesnakes, each trying to kill the other. This would be the Feith rattlesnake's version of the catastrophic mess.

Gen. Tommy Franks called him "the dumbest [bad word] guy on the planet." George Tenet of the CIA called his work on Iraq "total crap." And Jay Garner, once the American administrator in Iraq, deduced that Feith is "incredibly dangerous" and, "He's a smart guy whose electrons aren't connected."

In a welcome change of course, China is now agreeing to meet with an envoy of the Dalia Lama. 50 plus years of extreme dismantling of Tibet and the Tibetan culture didn't cause this change. It was the pressure from the world over the Chinese Olympics as they related to the human rights protests in Tibet timed to coincide with the event.

For the Chinese, its about the money, prestige, and attempting to present a good image to the world.

China's government agreed Friday to a meeting with an envoy of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, a step that follows weeks of calls from world leaders for dialogue in the wake of anti-government protests in Tibet.

Friday, April 25, 2008

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 9, 2007, as Leif Erikson Day. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs to honor our rich Nordic-American heritage.

President Bush continues to fill up the calendar with many new and appealing holidays.

On April 23rd, President Bush declared that May 1st will now be Loyalty Day.

Americans believe that every man, woman, and child has unalienable rights, dignity, and matchless value. Advancing these ideals was the honorable vision of our Founders and the mission that helped shape this great country. On Loyalty Day, we celebrate the legacy of freedom and the shared ideals that bind us together.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2008, as Loyalty Day. I call upon all people of the United States to join in support of this national observance and to display the flag of the United States on Loyalty Day as a symbol of pride in our Nation.

I'm not sure what the proper attire is for Loyalty Day, perhaps its simply a flag pin worn on a prominent place on the upper body garment.

I know of a great place where you can buy Viking metal domed horn helmets for Leif Erikson Day though...

By naming Petraeus to a job that lasts into the next administration, Bush ensures that the new president will confront the military's strongest voice for maintaining a big force in Iraq.

And Petraeus has emerged as a leading critic of Iran's interference in Iraq, making his appointment a signal of heightened U.S. attention to Tehran.

We have this sense that Bush's unpopularity, his 20 something percent approval rating, and the rupture within the Republican Party which includes a long list of retiring Congressional people, indicates some type of grand swinging of the political pendulum back to at the very least a more central place.

This is not so. Bush makes political appointments and his appointees will be around for a long time to come. This is how the Bush 'legacy' really works.

In the case of Petraeus the neo-conservative agenda, which is the core of the Bush administration policy, in part is helped to remain intact.

Volkswagen...a sponsor of the 2008 Beijing games, urged China's government on Thursday to embrace the spirit of the Olympic Games.

"The Olympics offer China and its people a unique opportunity not only to continue their economic development, but above all to further open up their society..."

The Chinese occupation of Tibet and the ongoing brutal disassembly of the Tibetan culture are at the center of this demand. Worldwide protests are shining a powerful light on this tragedy as the Olympic torch makes its way around the world.

I cannot recall a corporation putting forth this type of demand and statement. Its unusual. On the surface it appears to be responsible. Below the surface, that's another question...

The House voted Wednesday to block the Bush administration from cutting federal spending on Medicaid health care for the poor by $13 billion over the next five years.

Two-thirds of House Republicans joined every voting Democrat in the 349-to-62 vote to impose a one-year moratorium, through next March, on seven rules changes that the administration said were needed to curb waste and abuse in Medicaid...

Bush is of course self and party mandated to kill all entitlements, social spending. Its called draining the beast.

47 million Americans had no health insurance in 2006, an increase of more than 2 million from the previous year.

So what's happening is that health insurance is becoming more expensive, less affordable. Employers are dropping coverage. And as a consequence, what we see out the other end is 2.2 million more Americans uninsured in the most recent year, a total of almost 9 million more Americans now uninsured since 2000.

The United States... has 751 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 in population.

The only other major industrialized nation that even comes close is Russia, with 627 prisoners for every 100,000 people.

The median among all nations is about 125...

Criminologists and legal experts here and abroad point to a tangle of factors to explain America's extraordinary incarceration rate: higher levels of violent crime, harsher sentencing laws, a legacy of racial turmoil, a special fervor in combating illegal drugs...

As someone who was violently assaulted by 10 gang hoodlums, the trouble is that there are many more people out there who are extremely detrimental and violent.

The US may be number one, but there are many many thugs on the loose that should be removed from society. I hate to sound like a redneck but I know this firsthand.

There is a thriving thug culture in the USA. The people involved in it are proud of their violence. In fact they pass the definition of evil that I recently heard described by Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron - they commit violent acts and they find it funny. I know this firsthand.

So we have a culture of violent sociopaths running around with plenty of people quite willing to join in. All this article identifies is the depth of societal and cultural sickness that is pervasive in the USA.

Let me add to this that the movement from the teen years into adulthood are particularly tricky. In America there are no true cultural rituals that help people along in this progression. No rituals that are healthy and beneficial. Instead we now have the rituals of violence. People take pride in knowing they have caused violence.

Bangladesh has begun evacuating thousands of stranded workers who were trafficked into war-ravaged Iraq by illegal manpower traders, officials said on Wednesday.

Those evacuated on Wednesday estimated that about 10,000 more Bangladeshis were still in Iraq, facing a hard time without jobs and proper documents.

One very obvious question comes to mind, why are immigrants being herded into Iraq to work, when the unemployment rate as a result of shock and awe is unbelievably high and the Iraqi people are impoverished even further as a result of unemployment?

Somebody should trace the money on this latest scandal, odds are it lands at some US or British related corporation or enterprise of some nature.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Clinton wins Pennsylvania. Apparently she scored big with the Democratic faction that wants to obliterate Iran with a nuclear bomb crap storm.

The Democratic Convention runs from August 25 to 28. Its going to be held in Denver, the mile high city.

Between now and then we will be having a teeth gnashing bruxism fest. Be sure to gird your loins. Also don't bother to read anything that claims to be a "poll" about which candidate is now 20 points ahead of the other. Its a well known fact, pollsters are into laughing gas.

Clearly Clinton does not mercifully quit the race. On the positive side, we get to test out which person we prefer to have lying to us for the next 4 years for a little while longer.

It turns out the pro-war slant of military analysts was in fact part of a carefully orchestrated propaganda effort from the Pentagon. The New York Times has revealed the Pentagon recruited more than seventy-five retired military officers to appear on TV outlets as so-called military analysts ahead of the Iraq war. Newly disclosed Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to the military analysts as “message force multipliers” or “surrogates” who could be counted on to deliver administration themes and messages to millions of Americans in the form of their own opinions.

The segment looked at this issue in detail. Basically we are talking about a subversion of democracy. You use the main stream media to amplify the call to war with a carefully orchestrated group of high up professionals who are heavily invested in the whole process.

Meanwhile you prevent any dissenting voices particularly those from the left or the peace movement, from being heard. All that the country does hear is information on the conduct of the war, and nothing about the fundamental and most salient point which is should the war even be waged, a careful analysis of the points that have led to war.

Pay attention, because this process will be repeated again and again especially with Iran on the horizon.

Finally, I will say that I found Hillary Clinton's mention of obliterating Iran to be about as loathsome as it gets. She is pandering to the worst and lowest political instincts with this message.

TH!NK GLOBAL is the new owner of the electric car producer TH!NK. Formerly part of the Ford Motor Company, TH!NK was taken over by a group of Norwegian investors in March 2006. Our goal is to make TH!NK the leading electric car producer in the world .

The electric car is back, capturing public attention and imagination. The confluence of climate change, high fuel prices, the success of hybrids, improved technology, and other factors have brought new attention to electric vehicles.

They intend to put the first model on the market by the end of 2009.

The car, named Think City, is a two-seater with a top speed of about 65 mph, the company said. It runs on sodium batteries and is 95 percent recyclable.

Its sort of a cross between pencil and transylvania, and its the source of all Democratic aspirations. Maybe?

Will Obama clearly make a run for it to the finish line?

Will Clinton put forward her last shot scenario with robust vigor and win, or will she lose and still continue in spite of everybody else in the world?

The country has been functioning with 5 presidents, Bush, Cheney, McCain, Obama, and Clinton. I like it. Its a multi-headed beast, we might consider keeping it. It seems a lot safer and people seem a fraction happier with it as well.

The Americans are attempting to seal off much of Sadr City, home to an estimated 2.5 million people, and have used helicopter gunships and Predator drones to fire missiles at militiamen seeking refuge in the sprawling slum of northeast Baghdad.

Security forces in the area also have come under repeated attack by militants trying to prevent the construction of a concrete wall through the district.

The wall — a concrete barrier of varying height up to about 12 feet — is being built along a main street dividing the southern portion of Sadr City from the northern, where Mahdi Army fighters are concentrated.

Rhythm was key to Richter's works. It created a kind of hidden structure, or grid, that helped unify disparate images into a whole. His abstract motion studies melted into a Surrealistic approach, and were explicitly intended to confound the rational mind with irrational happenings. In the obscurist fantasy "Ghosts before Breakfast" (1927), Richter's Dadaist influences take center stage. Everyday objects and people undergo bizarre metamorphoses: hats fly through the air; beards appear, grow, and just as magically disappear on hapless men; tea cups fill of their own accord. Creating a "fantasy trance" of curiosity, Richter's inspired choreography of objects held audiences spellbound at a time when film and special effects were new.

"There's no doubt that both the Arab world and Hamas will accept Israel's right to exist in peace within 1967 borders," he said, referring to Israel's frontiers before it captured large swaths of Arab lands in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel has been negotiating directly with Abbas, who heads a moderate government based in the West Bank. Abbas lost control of the Gaza Strip last June, when Hamas violently seized control of that territory.

Monday, April 21, 2008

There have been 21 shootings in Chicago in the last 24 hour period. The shootings were mostly gang related. Four people were killed, others are in hospitals in critical condition.

The recession coupled with stagnant wages, inflation particularly higher food and gas prices, less available credit for student loans and other personal credit needs particularly loans for trade and community colleges, mortgage criteria rising to a higher standards, and higher unemployment are all factors that will kindle inner city violence.

Fun loving couple George and Marion Kerby, bank stockholders, are killed in a car accident. As ghosts, they need to do a good deed to get into heaven. Their target stuffy, hen-pecked bank president, Cosmo Topper. Their good deed, they decide, should be to help Topper add a little fun to his life. And the hilarity ensues...

Of the 606 militants cataloged in the Sinjar records, almost 19 percent had come to Iraq from Libya. Previous intelligence estimates had always held that the bulk of Iraq's foreign fighters come from Saudi Arabia. Indeed, the largest number of militants in the Sinjar records—244 of them—were Saudi nationals. But in per capita terms, Libyans represented a much higher percentage. Perhaps the most startling detail: of 112 Libyan fighters named in the papers, an astoundingly large number—52—had come from a single town of 50,000 people along the Mediterranean coast, called Darnah.

Back in 2003, Libya agreed to open up its nuclear weapons technology to the U.N.

"Another message should be equally clear: Leaders who abandon the pursuit of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them will find an open path to better relations with the United States and other free nations."

He said Libya's decision would help lift it out of its isolation.

"With today's announcement by its leader, Libya has begun the process of rejoining the community of nations," Bush said. "Colonel Gadhafi knows the way forward: Libya should carry out the commitments announced today. Libya should also fully engage in the war against terror."

Clearly terrorism extends far beyond the use of a weapon of mass destruction by a 'rogue' nation. Clearly the method for preventing terrorists extends far beyond the scope of normalizing relations with 'rogue' countries.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs isn't doing enough to prevent suicide and provide adequate medical care for Americans who have served in the armed forces, a class-action lawsuit that goes to trial this week charges.

An average of 18 military veterans kill themselves each day, and five of them are under VA care when they commit suicide, according to a December e-mail between top VA officials that was filed as part of the federal lawsuit.

The Bush administration is perfectly willing to send troops into Iraq for multiple tours of duty, and like many he wears the patriotic flag and talks about honoring the troops efforts in Iraq by staying his course. The end result of this policy will cast a long lengthy shadow on American society for years to come.

The news reporter mentions that there are new trends resulting from the loans drying up, noting that the most affected are students at trade schools and community colleges at this point. She says that people are learning to save money and that big label clothing is being replaced by second hand clothes - being poor is cool. Who knew?

After the Clintons left the White House, I stayed on (as White House chef) for the first four years of the Bush administration and was surprised to see how similar were Mrs. Clinton’s and Laura Bush’s tastes: though very different women, they both liked Southwestern cuisine and spicy foods and ate relatively healthfully. Just about the only thing that’s changed in the menu is Mrs. Bush’s insistence on organic products — much to her husband’s surprise.

There is virtually no policy decision that Bush has made that I believe benefits anyone other than the richest 1% of the nation's people. The end of his presidency cannot come fast enough.

That said, there are now two aspects of Bush that I support. He rides a bike, and he eats organic at least part of the time.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

God is Great," screamed a man seconds before he blew himself up, killing 10 people in a restaurant in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in western Iraq.

A vicious civil war is now being fought within Iraq's Sunni Arab community between al-Qa'ida in Iraq and al-Sahwa while other groups continue to attack American forces.

The official daily death toll of civilians reached a low of 20 killed a day in that month (January) and has since more than doubled to 41 a day in March. The US and the Iraqi government are now facing a war on two fronts.

The Iraqi army has appeared as dependent on American support as it ever was in the past.

The American Enterprise Institute or A.E.I. is a neoconservative think tank.

The rank and file of the Institute include many former contributors to the allegedly defunct 'Project for a New American Century', another neoconservative think tank whose members occupied many of the highest governmental positions in the early Bush years. These neoconservatives were the architects of the Iraq war among other things. Lead 'Project for a New American Century' spokesperson William Kristol can be heard cheering the Iraq war/occupation every week on Fox News and anyplace where neoconservative and Bush loyalists are willing to secretly gather.

It is in America's best interest to reduce the world's dependency on oil from unstable regions of the world. Starting with a collaborative effort among individuals, businesses and government leaders, we can fundamentally transform the American energy system to one that is more dependable and more affordable. Yet there is no panacea for the energy challenge we face. It will take a wide-ranging approach that adopts more aggressive development of biofuels and solar, wind, hydrogen and nuclear power.

Though ethanol holds a lot of potential as a partial replacement for gasoline, the ethanol we use today will be replaced by an improved ethanol in the future as ethanol producers continue to advance the fuel's positive energy return on investment (the ratio of how much energy the fuel produces to how much energy is needed to produce the fuel).

Gingrich's article is misnamed, he does not go into the deep and destructive cons of ethanol and biofuel.

I would suspect the fact that ethanol and biofuel is a highly subsidized industry in the USA, meaning we the taxpayer are paying for its corporate evolution, is one of Gingrich's favorite aspects. Corporate welfare would always trump social service welfare for Gingrich, the man who helped demonise the single black mother in the 1994 Republican revolution in Congress.

Even though I have covered this many times on this blog, here is an excellent excerpt on a few of the negatives:

The push for ethanol and other biofuels has spawned an industry that depends on billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies, and not only in the United States. In 2005, global ethanol production was 9.66 billion gallons, of which Brazil produced 45.2 percent (from sugar cane) and the United States 44.5 percent (from corn). Global production of biodiesel (most of it in Europe), made from oilseeds, was almost one billion gallons.

The industry's growth has meant that a larger and larger share of corn production is being used to feed the huge mills that produce ethanol. According to some estimates, ethanol plants will burn up to half of U.S. domestic corn supplies within a few years. Ethanol demand will bring 2007 inventories of corn to their lowest levels since 1995 (a drought year), even though 2006 yielded the third-largest corn crop on record. Iowa may soon become a net corn importer.

The enormous volume of corn required by the ethanol industry is sending shock waves through the food system. (The United States accounts for some 40 percent of the world's total corn production and over half of all corn exports.) In March 2007, corn futures rose to over $4.38 a bushel, the highest level in ten years. Wheat and rice prices have also surged to decade highs, because even as those grains are increasingly being used as substitutes for corn, farmers are planting more acres with corn and fewer acres with other crops.

This might sound like nirvana to corn producers, but it is hardly that for consumers, especially in poor developing countries, who will be hit with a double shock if both food prices and oil prices stay high...source

This article is a year old and today we are witnessing the worldwide increase in food prices. Curiosly Gingrich makes virtually no connection between ethanol and biodiesel production and the rising price of food, which is leading to massive hunger in poorer countries.

Rocketing food prices — some of which have more than doubled in two years — have sparked riots in numerous countries recently. Millions are reeling from sticker shock and governments are scrambling to staunch a fast-moving crisis before it spins out of control. From Mexico to Pakistan, protests have turned violent. Rioters tore through three cities in the West African nation of Burkina Faso last month, burning government buildings and looting stores. Days later in Cameroon, a taxi drivers' strike over fuel prices mutated into a massive protest about food prices, leaving around 20 people dead. Similar protests exploded in Senegal and Mauritania late last year. And Indian protesters burned hundreds of food-ration stores in West Bengal last October...

The push to produce biofuels as an alternative to hydrocarbons is further straining food supplies, especially in the U.S., where generous subsidies for ethanol have lured thousands of farmers away from growing crops for food. "The area used for biofuels is increasing each year...

Not only do we know about the 4,000+ troops killed, the 300,000+ suffering from PTSD, the 25,000+ suffering from injuries including loss of limbs, $3trillion price tag, the several million displaced refugee Iraqis, and the 100,000+ Iraqis killed, there are the programs that lose funding in favor of war. This is an internal, within the nation, type of blowback.

- The National Institutes of Health has lost 2 percent of its budget to inflation in real dollars every year for the last seven years, a 14 percent decline...

- When...asked...why there is the drop in federal funds... “We have a deficit and a war.” If funding potential disease cures is part of the price of Iraq, it is no wonder that 70 percent of Americans oppose the war and want its cost to end in the scheme of priorities.

Friday, April 18, 2008

A company of government troops in Sadr City retreated when they came under attack from Shiite militiamen who used the cover of a sandstorm, police said Friday.

Not exactly standing up as we stand down is it?

Memo to the next manager of the Iraq war/occupation - Leave all your preconceived notions (AKA neo-con nonsense) behind and do a little experiential investigation or listen to an actual expert, not a phony, a real expert.

Is it possible that absolutely nothing that Bush said about the positive side of the Iraq war/occupation will turn out turn to be true.

A 5.4-magnitude earthquake that appeared to rival the strongest recorded in the region rocked people up to 450 miles away early Friday, surprising residents unaccustomed to such a powerful Midwest temblor.

Its about graphene which comes from graphite. A transistor can be made of graphene that is only 1 atom thick - that's tiny. The thought is that it could replace silicone. Graphene = more transistors = faster more advanced computer chips.

General Clark points out a significant defect in President Bush's obedience to General Petraeus - General Petreaus is there to do his job as best as he can as a military leader, that is his mission. It is the President who is supposed to decide whether or not the mission needs to continue, not the Generals. The President is supposed to set the policy, not the General.

About 300,000 U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, but about half receive no care, an independent study said on Thursday.

The study by the RAND Corp. also estimated that another 320,000 troops have sustained a possible traumatic brain injury during deployment. But researchers could not say how many of those cases were serious or required treatment.

Next time our political leaders tell us that the cost of taking down Saddam Hussein was worth it, pity them for being so out of touch and inhumanely callous.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Revising his stance on global warming, President Bush proposed a new target Wednesday for stopping the growth of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.

The new White House climate initiative comes as Bush appears, in the view of congressional Democrats and environmentalists, as increasingly irrelevant in the climate debate both on the domestic and international stage.

With 7 wasted years down the drain on this dramatically important issue, Bush punts it to 2025.

He did his job. He kept corporations as happy as pigs in s**t. In the last 8 years, gas mileage has improved by a whisper, gas prices have tripled, home heating fuel is prohibitively expensive, and the White House did nothing to promote alternative energy on any type of relevant, small, or grand scale. The key word is nothing.

This searching for a legacy Bush thing is actually Presidential later mid-life crisis. Somebody get this guy something so he can go cut brush. Environmentalists are kind in calling Bush not relevant, he is the problem.

Ramallah, West Bank: Former US President Jimmy Carter on Tuesday warmly embraced a leading Hamas figure in the West Bank and laid a wreath at the grave of Yasser Arafat, further antagonising Israel as he pushed forward with his latest Mideast peace mission.

Carter, who stressed he was not acting as a negotiator or a mediator, said he hoped "just as a communicator" to relay to "leaders of the United States" what Hamas and Syria have to say.

I did not admire Arafat. He seemed to be serving his own self interests in the end.

No doubt Carter is setting off a huge controversy and no doubt the right wing hate radio usuals will link it all to Obama, etc, etc, etc.

What I would like to simply point out is that the Palestinian - Israeli conflict appears as bad as ever and we were all sick of it 30 years ago.

In that light, or lack or light, which is that the situation is no better and is in some ways worse, much worse, Carter deserves credit for moving outside of the worthless box.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The recession/sub prime mortgage decimation/Iraq war, is setting off economic problems all over the place. We've learned about the crunch on student loans, the crunch on mortgages and how there is an amazing rise in foreclosures, drug companies are upping the ante, food prices are rising with millions around the world now at risk, plus there is ongoing inflation. Next up, its retail stores -

Since last fall, eight mostly midsize chains — as diverse as the furniture store Levitz and the electronics seller Sharper Image — have filed for bankruptcy protection as they staggered under mounting debt and declining sales.

But the troubles are quickly spreading to bigger national companies, like Linens ‘n Things, the bedding and furniture retailer with 500 stores in 47 states. It may file for bankruptcy as early as this week, according to people briefed on the matter.

Even retailers that can avoid bankruptcy are shutting down stores to preserve cash through what could be a long economic downturn. Over the next year, Foot Locker said it would close 140 stores, Ann Taylor will start to shutter 117, and the jeweler Zales will close 100.

According to George Bush, Iran is the biggest threat to the USA. They are our enemy. According to Pat Buchanan, there is a 50/50 chance we bomb them before Bush mercifully leaves office. Its already being called the October surprise.

I found this article on the Gulf News website. If the article's allegation is valid, then our government has far more in common with the Iranian government than anyone has realized.

Insurgents armed primarily with car bombs struck in four cities in Iraq on Tuesday, killing at least 66 people and wounding dozens more. The most lethal attack was in the troubled provincial capital of Baquba, a city the Americans believed they had largely taken back from Sunni extremists last summer.

Bush got us into this mess and he apparently has no plan for the region other than staying his failed course. He sure as hell can't and won't get us out of this mess.

City leaders pressed Monday for less government secrecy and stronger action to deal with the presence of trace pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies, as communities across the nation continue to voice unease over these contaminants.

Scientific studies indicate that some drugs, including sex hormones and psychiatric drugs, can harm aquatic species. A smaller, emerging body of research suggests that tiny concentrations of some drugs can interfere with functions of human cells.

Bring the water, oats, and dulse to a boil, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes.Slowly saute' the patty or fillet over low heat in olive oil. If you do it slow enough it will be cooked when the oats are done.

Put the cooked oats in a bowl and top with the fillet or patty, garnish to taste.

I listened on Monday the 14th, not much has changed since six months ago.

I listened to the futility of calling into his show. Someone called to defend Obama. Limbaugh was dragging Obama through the mud, no surprise here. One curious remark had Limbaugh attributing Obama with being inarticulate. Can you imagine, 7 years of drooling Bush and he goes after Obama.

Apparently hate radio has settled on McCain, no surprise here.

It would be a beneficial study in the art of profoundly poor and lopsided debate by analyzing Limbaugh's comments. The caller was silenced, quite literally, his voice was removed from the sequence. What better way to attack a critic than to remove the critic, no chance for a retort. Limbaugh went into a patriotic soliloquy, I wondered if he believed it himself.

You will not hear one word about the massive destructiveness that the Bush administration has wrought. Nothing about the economy, nothing about the war, nothing about massive deficits, the great failure of Bush, its all about the flawed 'ideology' of liberalism and how to expunge that scourge. Somewhere in Limbaugh's mind, Bush has apparently succeeded.

I must say the deceptions, obfuscations, hypocrisies, half truths, all were perfect. It occurred that here is perhaps the best salespeople of all time. This is exactly what he does, he sells the right and he sells commercials, and he's unsurpassed.

I took away nothing from the experience and remembered why I listen every six months. Its the same story and production every time. Rush believes its 1994 and the Republican conservative revolution is blooming and that liberals are scoundrels on the run. Its a broken record, ultimately there's nothing there. I doubt that he even knows what a liberal is. I can sum up his talking point with a right wing slogan of the past - "My country right or wrong." Limbaugh took that slogan and molded it into a long lucrative career.

Its curious, people seem to be under the impression that there is a movement to improve health care in the USA. Certainly we hear about it often enough. These are words that do not translate into actions. Its quite the opposite. Health care costs and accessibility continues to decline. That would mean that health in general is declining.

Recall that drug companies are among the types of industries that fair well during a recession.

Health insurance companies are rapidly adopting a new pricing system for very expensive drugs, asking patients to pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars for prescriptions for medications that may save their lives or slow the progress of serious diseases.

With the new pricing system, insurers abandoned the traditional arrangement that has patients pay a fixed amount, like $10, $20 or $30 for a prescription, no matter what the drug’s actual cost. Instead, they are charging patients a percentage of the cost of certain high-priced drugs, usually 20 to 33 percent, which can amount to thousands of dollars a month.